Porsche dealers have a busy 12 months ahead, with both the Taycan and 911 receiving facelifts. This week we’ve caught both of those cars without any disguise, meaning they must both be due for launch any week now.
This 911 is a mid-life refresh of the 992-generation Porsche sports car introduced in 2018. While it’s technically only a facelift, there’ll be some big advances, including the 911’s first-ever electrified powertrain. This will be a hybrid version of the firm’s famous flat-six engine due to arrive in the second half of this decade.
Porsche will stagger the 911’s launch, possibly only revealing the journeyman Carrera S this fall if it follows the timeline of the current 992’s release, followed by sexier variants like the Turbo, GT3, and GTS models at a later date. The car seen in these images looks like it could be a GTS even though we’re not expecting that to be available for a while. It could also be a Carrera S because although both currently come without big fixed spoilers, they are each available with an optional Aerokit. And though this car doesn’t have center-lock wheels, which are standard on the 2023 GTS, that model can also be optioned with regular five-stud hubs.
Related: Porsche Execs Drop Big Electrified 911 Details, Hybrid Coming Around 2025
Whatever it is, it might prove almost as controversial as the original 996 and its fried-egg headlights, because of that new bumper, with its large vertical slats arranged on either side of a slim rectangular cooling slot. One of the images shows those slats up-close and it looks like they’re active, meaning they can be opened and closed depending on the cooling needs.
Hopefully, they’ll stay closed when owners approach and exit the car because our take is that they – when open, anyway – make the new 911 much uglier than the last, though moving the turn signals from the bumper to the headlight units has cleaned up the nose a little.
We’re all on board with the work put into the rear overhaul though. While we have seen some prototypes with widely spaced tailpipes, most have had this centralized arrangement that gives the new 911 a hint of GT3, though that car’s pipes are mounted even closer together. These latest images don’t give us a look inside the new 911 but we know from previous spy shots that the 992.2 will gain a complete digital instrument pack.
We’ll have to wait for the official reveal to find out what upgrades the turbocharged 3.0-liter six used in the Carreras and GTS has received. To refresh your memory the base 2023 Carrera makes 380 hp (385 PS), the S gets 444 hp (450 PS) and the GTS makes 473 hp (480 PS).
So when are we going to see the new 911? The Los Angeles Auto Show is this November and that’s a venue Porsche has used before to launch a 911 so that seems like a solid bet. But will it also unveil the facelifted Taycan at the same event and what do you think of the 911’s new face?
